Synthetic Biology: The Intellectual Property Puzzle
![handle is hein.journals/tlr85 and id is 1761 raw text is: Synthetic Biology: The Intellectual Property Puzzle
Sapna Kumar* & Arti Rai**
Synthetic biology takes as its mission the construction, and
reconstruction, of life at the genetic level.' The scale and ambition of
synthetic biology efforts go well beyond traditional recombinant DNA
technology. Rather than simply transferring a preexisting gene from one
species to another, synthetic biologists aim to make biology a true engineer-
ing discipline.2 In the same way that electrical engineers rely on standard
circuit components, or computer programmers rely on reusing modular
blocks of code, synthetic biologists wish to create an array of standard,
modular3 gene switches or parts that can be readily synthesized and
mixed together in different combinations.4 The Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) has a Registry of Standard Biological Parts [that]
supports this goal by recording and indexing biological parts that are
currently being built and offering synthesis and assembly services to con-
struct new parts, devices, and systems.5 Systems, devices, parts, and DNA
represent descending levels of complexity-systems consist of devices, and
devices consist of parts composed of DNA.6
* Faculty Fellow, Duke Law School. Affiliated with the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences
& Policy's Center for Genome Ethics, Law & Policy.
** Professor of Law, Duke Law School. Faculty Associate, Duke Institute for Genome
Sciences & Policy. Portions of this Article draw upon an earlier essay published by Arti Rai and
James Boyle. See Arti Rai & James Boyle, Synthetic Biology: Caught Between Property Rights, the
Public Domain, and the Commons, 5 PLOS BIOLOGY 389 (2007). The authors gratefully
acknowledge the support of the National Human Genome Research Institute and the Department of
Energy (P50 HG003391-02). We also thank participants at a March 2-3, 2007 Duke-MIT
workshop on intellectual property in synthetic biology. Shubha Chandrasekharan, Julia Carbone,
and Cory Valley provided excellent assistance in researching patents and interpreting patent claims.
1. See, e.g., Drew Endy, Foundations for Engineering Biology, 438 NATURE 449, 449 (2005)
(observing that the era of synthetic biology has been described as an era in which significantly new
gene arrangements can be constructed and evaluated).
2. See id. (arguing that the recent interest in synthetic biology is driven in part by engineers who
want to develop foundational technologies that make the design and construction of engineered
biological systems easier).
3. Modularity involves breaking up a complex system into discrete pieces-which can then
communicate with one another only through standardized interfaces within a standardized
architecture .. Richard N. Langlois, Modularity in Technology and Organization, 49 J. ECON.
BEHAV. & ORG. 19, 19 (2002).
4. See Endy, supra note 1, at 450 (asserting that the biological engineering community would
benefit from the promulgation of standards for basic biological parts, as well as standards for using
the parts in combination).
5. Help: About the Registry, http://parts.mit.edu/registry/index.php/Help:About-the_.Registry
(last modified Apr. 5, 2006).
6. Abstraction Hierarchy - Registry, http://parts.mit.edu/registry/index.php/Abstraction.
Hierarchy (last modified June 7, 2006).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/tlr85&div=53&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Synthetic Biology: The Intellectual Property Puzzle
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